


Ten Steps and Counting

by softwolves



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Light Angst, M/M, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:54:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28959789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softwolves/pseuds/softwolves
Summary: “The farthest distance in the world is three kilometres.”
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Where Thoughts Go





	Ten Steps and Counting

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back Kyungsoo! And please keep in mind this is just a drabble heheh and please read the tags before you proceed~

_“The farthest distance in the world is three kilometres.”_

That was what Kyungsoo said when Jongin asked him about his thought during his days serving in the military. Back there, everyone had to start their day by running for three kilometres, first thing in the morning. Kyungsoo hated sweating, hated the way their platoon leader yelling at them to run faster, hated everything even more when they still had to do so even if it’s raining. It seemed like there was no end to it.

Jongin just laughed.

“ _Hyung_ , do you actually know what’s the actual farthest distance in the world is? On land?”

Kyungsoo lazily shook his head. He’s busy comparing the prices between two brands of toasted sesame oil, which Jongin had almost ran out of. He’d promised to cook _tangsuyuk_ , a sweet and sour pork dish for Jongin later at his house.

_“Cook me the most famous dish of yours there, Chef,_ ” Jongin had said the day before. Kyungsoo had snorted. Ever since he’s back from the military, Jongin kept teasingly calling him ‘chef’, since he finally took a license to serve as a cook there. And here they were doing some grocery shopping. They were right for deciding to shop at the premium supermarket near Jongin’s apartment building. Not too many people, so they didn’t have to bother to be discreet in case there were fans finding them there.

“It’s from South Africa to the extreme north Russia. Approximately 22,000 kilometres.“

_Ah, Jongin and his general knowledge_. Kyungsoo smiled.

“But it got easy, right?” Jongin asked, eyeing rows and rows of food condiments in bottles of variety sizes.

Kyungsoo hummed. “More like, I got used to it.” Months of running, everyone did become faster, and the complaints and sighs slowly died. “Wait till it’s your turn to serve. You’d be thinking the same as I am,” he said with confidence as he put a jar of soybean paste into the cart. It’s not needed at all when making _tangsuyuk_ , but he noticed that it’s a new brand, and he’s excited to try it soon.

“Maybe,” Jongin answered offhandedly. “Perhaps I’d be agreeing with you soon enough,” Jongin shrugged and pushed the cart further to the vegetable aisle.

Running his eyes through the cart that they had filled, Kyungsoo tried not to think too much about this weird distance between the two of them ever since he came back from the military. It might not looked like it, but Kyungsoo _felt_ it. He felt it in the way Jongin hugged him when they met earlier, but it’s not as tight. Or in the way Jongin shrugged and just walked away when usually Jongin only did that when they’re fighting with each other, and they’re obviously _not_ having a fight now. And worse, Kyungsoo felt like he’s the one who’s also putting some distance between them.

Who said that absence makes the heart grow fonder? All Kyungsoo and Jongin had been doing ever since Kyungsoo came back was avoiding each other and pretended that they were as close as before. It’s like they suddenly didn’t know how to treat each other anymore.

And the implication that Jongin might serve in the military soon, when Kyungsoo just finished his, made his stomach queasy. _Was this what Jongin feel when Kyungsoo just dropped him the bomb two years ago?_

He still remembered Jongin’s dumbfounded face. Talking about enlisting in the military was not a strange thing for them. Every able-bodied men in Korea had to go through it, and as artists, they had to plan well. The timing _had_ to be right. But maybe Jongin thought it was still too sudden. He’d told him he hoped Kyungsoo would be there with him through the process of releasing his first solo album, and especially on the day of the release.

But Kyungsoo also had his own plan and dreams. It might be sudden for Jongin, but Kyungsoo had been thinking over and over and he had made a decision.

Watching Jongin approximately seven steps ahead from him, Kyungsoo had never felt _this_ lonely in the midst of grocery shopping. He watched as Jongin took a packet of cherry tomatoes and showed to him from afar, silently asking him a ‘ _do we need thi_ s?’ to which Kyungsoo just shook his head. And Jongin put it back onto the shelf and walked a little further.

That made it ten steps.

_Oh_ , Kyungsoo hated this. Hated how he had started to think that he might be wrong. That right now, the farthest distance in the world was ten steps between him and Jongin in the middle of a _fucking_ supermarket— and _counting_.

And Kyungsoo never wanted to get used to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading till the end! and i'm sorry please don't k word me :') comments are very much appreciated!


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